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The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is committed to advancing knowledge and understanding of the Native cultures of the Western Hemisphere—past, present, and future—through partnership with Native people and others. The museum works to support the continuance of culture, traditional values, and transitions in contemporary Native life.

Native Media Topics

These articles provide information on specific types of media and on regional media making in the Americas.

The Native American Film + Video Festival

September 2013

Focused on indigenous issues and Native American film since 1979, the NMAI's Native American Film + Video Festival has been recognized as an important showcase for the creative energy of Native filmmakers and their explorations of diverse indigenous community achievements and concerns. The museum's Film & Video Center has provided Festival organization, information services, and promotion of the field of Native American media throughout the Festival’s thirty-five years.

Native Radio

August 2013

The success of radio as the most widely used communication medium among Native people reflects a commitment to community that stretches across distant airwaves as well as local tribal homelands. With programming as diverse as its listening audiences, radio strengthens individual cultural traditions and languages and brings diverse communities together.

Native Youth Media

House Made of Dawn: A Closer Look

December 2005

The film adaptation of Kiowa author N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn represents an important moment in the history of Native American images on film. Scripted by Momaday and director Richardson Morse, House Made of Dawn (1972) stars Larry Littlebird as a young Pueblo man in crisis.

Mapping Mexican Media: Indigenous and Community Video and Radio

August 2004

For over a decade, indigenous video makers in Mexico's rural and urban communities have created rich and varied views of Native life and concerns. Their work reflects both the diversity of Native peoples in Mexico and visions that are shared.

The Cinematography Education and Production Center/Media in Bolivia

November 2001

Building on a long tradition of community radio, indigenous peoples in Bolivia are working together in a historic movement for self-determination in audio-visual media. The Cinematography Education and Production Center has produced more than 70 videos (including award-winning fictions) in the past five years, and is empowering grassroots efforts to use technology for the continuity of Bolivia's diverse cultures and the protection of the natural world.